Machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets Sheet 1.

W. J. WEBB. YARN PRINTING MACHINE.

No. 596,045. Patented Dec. 21, 1897.

m: warns wcrzns co, FHOTOLITHOH WASHINGTON, n, c.

2 Shets-Sheet 2.

' W. J; WEBB.

YARN PRINTING MACHINE.

(No Model.)

No. 596,045 Patented Dec. 21,1897.

Invent/7".

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE,

WILLIAM J. WEBB, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE ALEXANDER SMITH dz SONS CARPET COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

YARN-PRINTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 596,045, dated December 21, 1897. Ap li ation fil d November 1, 1897. $erial1lo. 657,020. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it ,kDOWIl that 1, WILLIAM J. WEBB, a citizen of the United States, residing atYonkers, county of Westchester, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Yarn -Printing Machines, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying draw ings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for printing or coloring yarn or similar material by applying to the yarn successive streaks of color arranged side by side, the object of the invention being to secure the desired uniform coloring of the yarn.

My invention maybe applied in connection with different methods of printing or coloring and with apparatus of various forms in which the structural features of my invention may be embodied; but the invention will be described as applied in connection with methods and machines of a general class and now in common use for printing or coloring car- Wheel will be applied herein, this wheel running in a boxor trough called the color-box, which is carried "by a carriage reciprocating longitudinally of the drum. At each reciprocation of the carriage the color-Wheel applies to the yarn a streak of color equal to the width of the wheel, and the drum is rotated step by step for the successive streaks, a wide stripe of a color being obtained by applying two or more streaks of the same color and different color-boxes and color-wheels being substituted for streaks of different colors. In this printing operation a ridge of color is formed at each side of the color-wheel-that is, between two adjacent stripes-and it is usual to employ devices (known variously as rubbers, scrapers, spreaders, or equalizers, and to which the generic term rubbers will be applied herein) for distributing the color contained in these ridges and rubbing the color into and through the yarn, these rubbers being mounted to reciprocate with the color-wheel and follow it in printing. Usually a pair of such rubbers are employed, located on opposite sides of the color-wheel and automatically thrown into and out of operative position to act alternately as the color-carriage moves in opposite directionsand arranged so that they may both be thrown out of operative position when required to avoid rubbing streaks of different colors into each other. A single rubber may be used also and shifted from one side of the color-wheel to the other.

I secure an improved result in printing or I coloring yarn or similar material by simultaneously subjecting a portion of the stripe of yarn to which the streak of color is being or has just been applied and a portion of the yarn on the previously-printed side of the stripe to a rubbing operation, so as to leave a sufficient portion of said stripe unrubbed to avoid interference with the edge of said streak next the unprinted yarn and to laterally distribute the color from the ridge at the other edge of said streak and the adjacent ridge of the previous streak over the previously-printed yarn at one side of the stripe and rub this portion of the previously-printed yarn, so as to rub the color into and through the yarn. The color may be distributed more or less widely over the previously-printed yarn; but it is desirable to distribute the color laterally over a considerable portion of the yarn, and for this purpose, as well as to secure the efficient rubbing of all portions of the successive stripes, I prefer to rub over one-half of the stripe just printed and of the previously-printed stripe and leave a sufficient portion of each stripe unrubbed at this operation to avoid interference with the outer edges of either stripe. With the usual threeeighths-inch stripe about two-thirds of each stripe is preferably rubbed simultaneously. By thus rubbing more than a half of each stripe I assure the rubbing of all portions of the successive stripes, and the slight ridge formed at the edge of the rubber in printing the previous stripe is rubbed down instead of being increased, as would be the case if the rubber covered just one-half of the stripe, while a wide distribution of the color from device as to subject the yarn to a rubbing operation in accordance with my invention, and these rubbers may be mounted and operated in any suitable manner.

The invention includes, therefore, certain combinations in yarn-printing or similar apparatus for carrying out my invention, all of which will be fully described hereinafter and specifically pointed out in the claims.

For the purpose of illustration I have shown in the accompanying drawings a drum yarn-printing machine of the best form .now known to me by which my invention may be practiced efficiently, and this machine and its operation will now be described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine with the drum indicated, but broken away. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the drum omitted. Fig. 3 is aside elevation of the color-carriage and track, on a larger scale, showing both rubbers out of operative position. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4 of Fig. 1, wit-l1 the drum indicated in printing position and the direction of its step-by-step rotation shown by the arrow. Fig. 5 is a sectionon line 5 of Fig. 1, with the color-carriage and drum omitted. Figs. 6, 7, and S are details of the rubber construction hereinafter referred to. Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view showing in plan successive stripes of printed yarn and the relation ofthe rubbers thereto.

Referring to said drawings, A is the yarndrum, which may be mounted to rotate step by step in any suitable manner for printing the successive stripes. Below the yarn drum A the frame of the machine is provided with rails 10 for supporting the wheeled carriage B, which is reciprocated by a cable 11, passing over pulleys 12 and actuated in any suitable manner. Hinged at 13 in the carriage B is a plate 14, which carries the colorwheel 0, running in a removable color-box D, which is supported in an opening in said plate, the face 0 of this color-wheel O acting to apply the color to the yarn. sides of thecolor-box the plate let carries bearings 15 for the shaft of the color-wheel, by which the color-wheel may be rotated by any common or suitable means. The colorwheel is yieldingly pressed against the yarn by a spring or springs 16, secured to the carriage B and engaging the under side of the plate 141:, and the upward movement of the plate and color-wheel is limited by a nut 1 on a bolt 2, passing through an opening in the end of the plate 14 and acting as a stop for the plate. At each end of the carriage is mounted a rubber d (1, these rubbers being mounted on rearwardly-inclined supports 17,

At opposite the outer ends of which rubbers form rubbing-surfaces, which in the operative position of the rubbers make contact with the yarn upon the drum. These rubbers are preferably constructed of a block of semiyielding material, such as hard vulcanized rubber, which is rearwardly beveled atits outer end to provide inclined rubbing-surfaces terminating in a sharp bearing edge, as shown, although it will be understood that the rubbers of this machine maybe otherwise constructed so far as the embodiment of the present invention is concerned. The connection between each rubber and its support 17 is preferablysuch as to permit of the adjustment of the rubber up and down, the connection in the present case being formed by mounting the rubber to slide on a dovetailed block enteringa similar groove in the rubberJas shown in Fig. 8, the rubber being held in adjusted position by a set-screw 3. Thus the rubber may be readily adjusted relatively to the drum or removed for repairs or replacement. The rubbers are mounted and actuated so as to be moved automatically into and out of position to engage the yarn, the rubber behind the color-wheel being in operation and the rubber in front of the color-wheel being thrown out of operation as the color-wheel moves in opposite directions for printing successive stripes. For this purpose the construction shown is as follows:

Each of the supports 17 is loosely journaled .on a shaft 18, carried by brackets 19 at the ends of the carriage, and each support earries a spring 20, the lower end of which engages a link 21, also j ournaled loosely on the shaft 18, and through which spring, as the link 21 is swung outwardly, the rubber is moved into and held in operative position, thus being held yieldingly against the yarn by the spring 20 when in operation. Movement to inoperative position is accomplished by swinging the link 21 inwardly and the engagement of a projection 4: on the hub thereof with a similar projection 5 on the hub of the support 17, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. movement of the rubber to inoperative position may be assisted by a spring 22, connected to the link 21 and to the carriage, which spring will also assist in retaining the rubber in in- This ICC

operative position. The link 21 of each rubher is provided with a slot 23, which receives a pin 6, carried by an arm 24 on a rock-shaft 25,1nounted in the brackets 19. The rockshaft 25 carries a second arm 26, which is connected by a link 27 to a lever e or c, corresponding, respectively, to the rubbers cl d, these levers e 8 being pivoted in suitable supports on the frame to rock vertically. Each of these levers e c has pivotally connected to its free end a depending rod 28 or 29, corresponding to the respective levers c c and rubbers (Z (1', these rods being provided at their lower ends with a bowl 7 for engagement with cams at opposite ends of the movement of the carriage for actuating the levers c e to throw r operative position.

35 ing the next stripe.

5o ment.

to f g, the cams for the respective rods and corresponding rubbers being reversed, so that each end of the machine carries a raising and lowering cam for throwing one of the rubbers out of operative position and the other into The operation of this tripping mechanism for the rubbers will be readily understood from a brief description.

In the position shown in Fig. 1, in which the carriage has completed its movement to the left and is about to move under the drum 2 5 to the left, has depressed the rod 28 and thus rocked the lever e, so as to raise its outer end, and thus through the link 27 and arm 26 has rocked the rock-shaft 25, so as to move the arm 24 downward, and by the pin 6, moving 0 in the slot 28, has thrown the link 21 outward and through the spring 20 raised the rubber (1 into operative position, so that it will engage the yarn behind the color-wheel O as the color-carriage moves to the right for print- At the same time the bowl 7 on rod 29, running on the upper side of cam g, has raised the rod 29 and rocked the lever 6, so as to lower its outer end, and thus through rock-shaft and its conneco tions has moved the arm 24 upward and by the rubber d downward from its raised operative position in which it has acted upon the yarn during the carriage movement just completed into its lowered inoperative position, so as not to engage the yarn in front of the color-wheel G on the next printing move- This position of all the parts is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the same position of the rubber df being shown also in Fig. 4:.

As the color-carriage B moves to the right in printing the next stripe the rubbers d cl remain in the same positions until the printing of the stripe has been completed and the color-carriage reaches the limit of its movement to the right corresponding to its position at the left, as shown in Fig. 1, when the rubbers are reversed, the rubber d being raised into operative position by the bowl 7 on the end of rod 29 coacting with cam f and the rubber cl being lowered into inoperative position by the bowl 7 on the end of rod 28 coacting with cam g, the action of these cams and connections to the respective rub,- bers being the same as previously described in connection with the reversal of the rubbers at the completion of the previous movement to the left.

,It will be seen that the arms 24 in moving upwardly and downwardly, so as to move the links 21 in and out, move past their horizontal position, so that the pins 6 in the slots 23 act to lock the links and rubbers in the position to which they are thus moved, so as to lock them in operative or inoperative position.

For throwing both the rubbers d d out of operation, which is desirable in many cases so as to prevent different colors being rubbed on the same surface, the cams ff, by which the rubbers are thrown into operative position, are made adjustable into and out of position for engagement with the bowls 7 of the depending rods 28 29, these cams ff being shown for this purpose as carried by vertical levers 30, pivoted on the frame of the ma the shaft 33 is rocked and through the links 31 rocks the levers 30, so as to throw the cams ff inward from the position shown in full lines in Figs. 4 and 5 to the position shown in dotted lines in the same figures, so that these cams will be inside the path of the bowls 7 and the bowls 7 will pass the cams without engagementtherewith. Onreleasing thetreadle the cams will be thrown outward into operative position by the spring 38 acting on arm 39 on the rock-shaft 33, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the rubbing action of the apparatus will be resumed. The position of the parts with both rubbers in inoperative position is shown in Fig. 3.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the width and sidewise position of the rubbers relatively to the face 0 of the color-wheel O is the same and such that the operative surface of each rubber laps over somewhat more than half the edge of the color-wheel and overlaps on the side of the color-wheel toward which the yarn-drum is rotated sufficiently to overlap somewhat more than one-half of the previously printed stripe. The relation of the rubbers to the successive stripes is shown in diagram in Fig. 9, in which four stripes 1 2 3 4 are shown, numbered in the order of printing, stripes 1 and 2 having been printed, stripe 3 is being printed, and the dotted lines indicate stripe 4, which is the next stripe to be printed. As illustrated in this figure, the rubber d is following the color-wheel in printing stripe 3, acting upon about two-thirds of this stripe and overlapping and acting upon about two-thirds of stripe 2, which is thenext previously-printed stripe. As above stated, this width and arrangement of the rubber is preferably used as securing the best results, the overlapping of more than one-half and less than the whole of the previously-printed stripe being very advantageous, because any treadle 37, so that by depressing the treadle I slight ridge formed at the edge of the rubber in printing the previous stripeis rubbed down instead of being increased, as would be the case if the rubber covered just one-"half this stripe, and a wide distribution of the color from the ridges between the stripes being printed and the previously-printed stripe is thus, secured with the best results, all parts of the successive stripes being subjected to the rubbing action and without interfering with the outer edges of the stripes on which the rubber is acting. to vary the width of the rubber, so as to rub somewhat less or more of the stripe of yarn to which color has been applied, and the rubber may overlap more or less on the yarn on the previously-printed side of said stripe, while including the broader features of my invention.

It will be understood that the rubbing operation will not be performed in printing a single stripe of a color or the first stripe of a series of stripes of the same color; but with the construction shown the rubber may be used in printing the last stripe of a color, so that the rubber can be used to rub the ridges between two stripes, even though only two stripes of one color are to be applied.

lVhat I claim is- 1. In an apparatus for printing or coloring yarn or similar material by applying successive streaks of color thereto, the combination It is possible, however, r

with the color-wheel, of a rubber constructed and positioned to act upon only a portion of the stripe of yarn being printed and to overlap and act upon the previously-printed yarn at one side of the stripe, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for printing or coloring yarn or similar material by applying successive streaks of color thereto, the combination with the color-Wheel, of a rubber constructed and positioned to act upon only a portion of the stripe of yarn being printed and to overlap and act upon a portion only of the next previously-printed stripe, substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus for printing or coloring yarn or similar material by applying successive streaks of color thereto, the combination with the color-wheel, of a rubber constructed and positioned to act upon more than onehalf and less than the whole of the stripe of yarn being printed and to overlap and act upon more than one-half and less than the whole of the next previously-printed stripe, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. WEBB. Vitnesses:

O. J. SAWYER, A. L. KENT. 

